Because of the policy implications of this article, editors of The Florida Historical Quarterly have allowed Dr. Evans to make "First to See Daylight" available online. Florida Historical Quarterly retains copyright.
Florida Historical Quarterly
Volume 85, No. 1, (August 2006): 42-63.
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to provide a general demographic picture of Black women's student enrollment, graduation, and faculty representation in the Florida State University System (FSUS). I explore the topic beginning in the early 1900s, but pay special attention to participation since 1959, when the first Black woman enrolled in classes at a Predominately White Institution (PWI) in the state.
My initial question was, "What has been Black women's participation at PWIs in Florida?" After gathering primary quantitative data from FSUS offices of institutional research, other questions arose regarding Black women's qualitative experiences, the compound nature of gender and racial inequities in Florida's higher education, and consequences of African Americans' relative exclusion from Florida state schools. Though I focus on Black women, implications for Black men's student and faculty FSUS participation are also outlined. Here, I present the state's demographic portrait of Black collegians and reveal implications of institutional practices concerning race and gender in the Sunshine State.
Outline
- Kitty Oliver's Multicolored Memoirs of a Black Southern Girl (2001)
- Historical Context of Higher Education for African Americans (nation, region, and state)
- Historic Black Women at the University of Florida (Daphne Duval-Williams)
- Recent History in the Florida State University System / Contemporary Picture
- The Gender Divide
- Black Faculty in Florida
- Findings: A Summary of the Demographic Narrative
- Directions for Future Research
Four Tables:
Table A: Black Students Enrolled, of Total Enrolled 2004
Table B: Black Enrollment Percentages and Graduation Percentages 2004
Table C: Black Students Enrolled 2004, by Gender
Table D: Black Students Enrolled, by Gender, Compared to State Prison Numbers, 1995 & 2004
This paper was presented at the Southern Historical Association Conference in Atlanta, Georgia., on November 3, 2005. Panel Title: "Creative Resistance:" African American Women and Educational Institutions in the 20th Century." Panel Chair: James Anderson, U Illinois, Urbana Champaign
For national context of Black women's educational participation between 1850 and the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, see S. Y. Evans, "This Right to Grow": African American Women's Intellectual Legacy in International Journal of the Humanities (2006). Dr. Evans' book, BLACK WOMEN IN THE IVORY TOWER, 1850-1954: AN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY is available from the University Press of Florida (2007).
